


Summer Pornathon Challenge #4

by kattale



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: F/M, Summer Pornathon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-11
Updated: 2012-08-11
Packaged: 2017-11-11 21:31:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 735
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/483095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kattale/pseuds/kattale
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for the 2012 Summer Pornathon for Challenge #4, "Minor Characters".</p><p>Based on the episode "Changeling" (S3-E6), Princess Elena hasn't quite felt herself since her visit to Camelot.  It's like a part of her is missing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Summer Pornathon Challenge #4

**Author's Note:**

> I don't normally read (or write) het fic, so I was floundering a bit here. The prompt called for "minor characters", and while many wrote about the knights, I consider the boys to be regular/main characters, so had to forgo them for this challenge. I adore Elena's character - any prince would be lucky to have her - she doesn't bother with posturing. I always wondered about her "rescue" from the Sidhe, since "possessed" is the only life she has ever known.

Pornathon Entry #4 - Minor Characters

Warning: Character Loss

Slowly, the Sidhe Knight gathered the shattered atoms of his being, calling them, reuniting them grain by grain, until he stood whole again.

Not whole.

Incomplete.

He knelt before the Seelie Court, confessed the failure of his task. Confessed the longing, the emptiness, the futility of his existence. He knelt, and he wept with the loss.

In time, the Sidhe Elder bid his knight rise, and charged him with a new task: Make himself whole.

***

Gaius examined his frail patient carefully, lifting each dull eyelid in turn, peering into her mouth, pinching the pale beds of her nails. He smelled her breath, rolled a lock of limp hair between his fingers, pressed the hollow cavern of her belly. “Tell me again, Princess, of your ailment.”

Princess Elena drew in a weak breath, voice wavering before the ring of concerned faces surrounding her. “It… began during our last visit to Camelot. I was fine until... something changed. At first it was freeing, a great burden lifted from my shoulders. But now... food is dust in my mouth, it no longer nourishes me, and wine does not quench my thirst. Sleep is long in coming, and brings no rest. Music sounds flat. Colours are duller – the sun itself is dimmer. It’s as if a shadow clouds my world.”

Gaius exchanged a sharp glance with Merlin, then bid the Princess continue.

“'Tis not merely senses. I am hollow, an empty shell. My “self”, the Elena that I have always been – she is gone, lost. I hear her call for me – ‘Elena, Elena’ – but seek as I might, I cannot find her. I cannot find myself.” The princess buried her face in frail hands, wept dry tears that would not flow.

“Can you help her?” demanded Lord Godwyn. “Can you help my Elena?”

“We shall see,” replied Gaius. He took the girl’s hands in his, whispering, “Oh, my dear girl. We have done you a grave injustice.”

***

Merlin stood before the Gates of Avalon, scepter raised. As he spoke ancient words, time slowed - leaves ceased their flutter, water stilled. “I can give you only a few moments, Princess," the young man warned urgently. "You MUST return when I call, or you will be trapped Underhill, in the realm of the Sidhe.”

Eyes fixed on the clearing before her, Elena nodded, and stepped forward.

The mists parted to reveal a vibrant landscape, lush and mystical as any Elena had seen. Gnarled roots and twining branches framed the crystal waters of a small lake. Mossy rocks peeked from a small waterfall cascading as backdrop to the song of birds and frogs. Flowers in every colour wove through branches of greenery. Throughout it all, tiny sparks of light twinkled and danced. She could feel the land breathing, the very heart of the earth beating beneath her feet.

A man waited for her, armor gleaming silver, helm of brightest gold. Silken hair of white-platinum framed a face of unearthly beauty. His pale eyes held such unbridled longing that she gasped, heat and need coiling within her. As in a dream, she fell into his arms, gown and armor melting away like snow.

They lay on a bank of emerald grass dotted with jewels of bright flowers. His lips traced her skin, leaving molten lava in their wake. Where he touched her, she came alive, body singing into his touch. When he slipped between her thighs, she opened to him in welcome – seeking, needing. The pain of joining was inconsequential, as waves of pleasure and arousal and deepest need washed over her.

 _Elena_. She heard a voice call in the far distance.

But she was so close - so close to finding the elusive something she sought. She ground up desperately against the knight, fingers digging into his shoulders as she urged him closer, deeper. She needed… she wanted…

 _Come, Elena_. The voice was powerful, insistent. But something was uncoiling within her, releasing slowly outward to encompass her, pulling him inwards – something bright, something ecstatic. She was so CLOSE…

 _Elena. You must return. The gates are closing_.

The knight pulled her tight, held her still as her soul shattered and reformed inside her, bursting in wave after wave of purest bliss.

 _Elena_! The anguish of the call was faint, fading… gone.

Elena gazed up at her knight – tears streamed down both faces.

“My soul.”

“My heart”

Whole.


End file.
